The Thief, The Artist, and The Crow
by Shadsie
Summary: Originally written in 3 Parts, now merged for your enjoyment! A tale of adventure and spiritual intrigue centered around Jessie and Tracey. What happens when an evil Murkrow who holds sway over the power of death takes two young lives before their time?
1. The Point of Might Have Been

Shadowcat's Notes: A strange little ficcie idea that I had, involving a couple of the Gold/Silver Pokemon that I've read about on the 'Net. Forgive any inaccuracies. It is more of a strange adventure than anything else, even though you might see the tiniest bit of romance. Oh, yes…this fic has some spiritual intrigue in it, and being a Christian…I'm warning people who have major problems with Christianity ahead of time, so you have no right to flame me if you hate Christian ideas. If anyone is wondering about "Rocket Stew", it is based upon an actual dish I've had a few times during my days as a Girl Scout. "Girl Scout Stew". 

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, Ash, Misty, Tracey, Brock, Jessie, James, Meowth, Pikachu, Murkrow(Yamikarasu), Selebi(Serebii), ect. I am making no money off this, for 'tis only practice for my writing and done as a fan, so no suing, okay?

"The Thief, The Artist, and The Crow"

By Stacey N. "Shadowcat"

Part One: The Point of Might Have Been

Ash, Misty, Tracey, and Pikachu had made camp in the forest that evening. They were on one of larger islands of the Orange chain, one that supported thick forests of pine and spruce. Ash was sitting by the night's campfire, browsing a book titled "Legends of Pika-Don" by the light of the slowly setting sun. The orange circle cast great shafts of light through the trees as it settled in behind the distant indigo-hued horizon. It was that magical time when day was not quite over but night had not yet begun and everything was painted in glowing oranges and pinks. 

While Ash was engaged in his reading, Misty was playing with Pikachu. She playfully tickled under his chin with a small feather she had found. The yellow mouse batted at it with his paws as if he were a cat. 

Tracey was sitting on a half-decayed fallen pine log, engaged in his favorite activity, drawing. His back was turned to Ash and Misty and neither of them could see what it was that held his fascination as he stared into a patch of bushes with his pencil flying over his sketchpad.

Misty left Pikachu with the feather (much to the electric-rodent's delight has he pawed it, then seized it in his mouth and proceeded to joyfully tear it apart) and crept up behind Tracey, hoping to get a glimpse of what he was drawing over his shoulder. He hated when anybody tried to do that, which is precisely why she wanted to. The perverse thrill of really annoying the heck out of someone held a special place with Misty's sense of humor. 

A loud rustle sounded in the bushes beyond and Misty saw the branches of an oak sapling quiver as a swift black shape departed its perch. 

"Oops." Misty whispered, realizing she had frightened away Tracey's subject. "Sorry to mess up your sketch, Tracey."

"It's okay, I was done with it, anyway, but I really would have loved to get a closer look at that pokemon. I think it was a new species…one that hasn't been discovered yet. I've never seen anything like it! It was kinda like a Pidgey, but with dark feathers, and its beak was curved…here, take a look at my sketch."

Tracey handed Misty his sketchbook, with the shiny new graphite rendering of the strange poke-bird. Misty gasped in horror.

"What's wrong, Misty, you look like you've seen a ghost or something? You don't like my drawing?" Tracey asked. "I know, the bird's a little freaky looking, but that's what it looked like."

"Don't you know what this is?" Misty whispered.

"What? What is it?" Ash asked as he trotted up to Misty and took a look at Tracey's drawing.

"It's a Murkrow!" Misty exclaimed. "It's called a Yamikarasu in some places." Tears welled up in Misty's eyes. "It is said that if someone sees a Murkrow in the evening like this, that they're about to die!"

"Aw, sounds like just a bunch of superstition to me, Misty," Ash said, "relax. It's only a pokemon."

"Excuse me, Mr. Ketchum," Misty huffed, "but a Murkrow is not 'only a pokemon', they're evil pokemon. And, a few years ago, one of my aunts was really sick with a mysterious illness and said that she saw one when she was staying at the Cerulean Gym. She died the next day! Oh, Kenji!"

Ash and Tracey stared at Misty quizzically. Misty had called Tracey by his actual name. He always insisted on being called by the nickname he had earned as a child back in his hometown for his artistic abilities. Therefore, it was a rather serious thing for anyone to be calling him by his real name of Kenji.

"Don't sweat it, Misty," Tracey assured, "I feel fine. Sounds like a lot of fluff and superstition. I'll be fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In another part of the forest, within sight of the smoke of Ash's campfire, another group of travelers made their camp. Meowth lay curled up on top of his cat-sized yellow sleeping bag within the warmth cast by the fire, already snoozing. 

James fiddled with his and Jessie's mess kits, dropping them both in the dirt as he tried to unpack them from their supplies. The big Meowth balloon was neatly folded up, it's basket nearby, just adjacent to the large red tent that James had just pitched. He resented that Jessie and Meowth left him to do all the work whenever they needed to build a campsite, but he had learned to keep his silence about his feelings on the subject. As much as he disliked doing work, he preferred it to being clawed in the face or being hit over the head with a paper fan.

James hated the camping, period. He would have much rather stayed in a hotel, but noooo! He and Jessie had to chase after that brat and his little friends because of that special Pikachu. This was the fifth night in a row that the little trio of Team Rocket had to shiver in their sleeping bags under the shelter of a thin nylon tent. How James missed a hot shower and a little room service! 

He arranged the mess kits and ladled out from a small cast-iron pot on the fire a little bit of "Rocket Stew"-a dish made of many different kinds of condensed canned soups thrown together. The stuff was different every time that James made it, and it settled any disputes about what kind of canned soup to have for supper. Strangely, whatever weird combinations of soups were used, it always turned out pretty good.

Jessie was sitting at the far side of the camp on a stump, staring at something. 

"Dinner's done, Jess!" James called. Jessie turned around and a small black shape darted out of a shrub into the mists of the falling night. Jessie sat next to the campfire, made a comment about the laziness of cats upon seeing the sleeping Meowth, who yawned and stretched, awakening, and took her bowl of stew. 

"Yah, suppertime!" Meowth smacked his lips.

"Yeah, don't help me with anything and wake up just in time for dinner." James muttered.

"What's it to ya, Jimmy?" Meowth replied. "I do most of the thinkin' work of dis operation, using all the smarts around here wears me out."

"Why you little…" James growled.

Jessie kept silent and stared into the fire.

"What's wit Jessie?" Meowth asked.

"Yeah, Jess?" James added. "Something wrong?"

"Ah-" Jessie started, "No, nothing's wrong…I was just thinking…When I was sitting on that stump over there, I saw the strangest looking pokemon. I was going to send Arbok out to battle it so I could catch it, but I…couldn't for some reason. I don't know why…it's just that this strange feeling came over me. It would have made a fine gift for The Boss, I haven't seen any kind of pokemon like it."

"What did it look like?" James queried.

"Well," Jessie explained, "It looked kind of like a Pidgey. A bird, but it was black and had a curved beak and red eyes. It would have been perfect for Team Rocket, it was so…evil looking. I don't know why I didn't send out Arbok."

~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night, Misty could not sleep. She tossed and turned in her sleeping bag, unable to get any rest. For a couple of brief moments, she started to drift into that place between sleeping and wakefulness, but was jolted awake by some forest noise.

She was worried. She felt a pervasive sense of foreboding that would not leave her in peace. Ash slept soundly with Pikachu curled up into a little yellow ball beside him. He held the pokemon like a teddy bear, and Pikachu did not seem to mind.

Tracey was softly snoring nearby. Misty looked at him thoughtfully. She hoped that he and Ash were right about the legend of the Murkrow, that it was just superstition. She seemed to be the only one that knew of it, it was an old story passed around Cerulean City when she was a young child. Misty borrowed Ash's "Legends of Pika-Don" book to see if it had said anything about it, for the book was a book of legends about pokemon. There were several stories about Pikachus and Raichus and a few about other pokemon, even one about a creature that could travel through time, but nothing on a Murkrow or Yamikarasu.

Misty stalked over to where Tracey was lying. He had taken his "lucky headband" off and tossed it next to his sketchpad, which lay just adjacent to his sleeping bag. Besides his pokemon, he had told Misty those two items were his "treasures". He wasn't quite sure what attachment he held to the headband, other than the fact that it kept his hair out of his eyes, and he had long filled many a sketchpad with drawings, only to buy another when needed, but, still, he treasured them. 

The sketchpad was his "voice" he told her, the medium by which he expressed himself. While she could readily state her mind, he was much quieter, more often than not remaining silent and drawing in his pad. Sure, he drew many things from life, like the numerous studies of pokemon that he hoped would get reviewed by and perhaps be of help to researchers such as the great Professor Oak ("You never really see something unless you try to draw it;" he had once said). He also did some drawings that were purely imaginative, scenes of fictional worlds.

Misty listened to his soft and rhythmic breathing. He mumbled something about "black feathers" and "Murkrow" in his sleep. She gently brushed some strands of hair out of his eyes. "Kenji, please be right about this…" she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James lay awake in Team Rocket's tent with the same ominous feeling that plagued Misty. Meowth lay curled up at his feet in his own little yellow sleeping bag, the pokemon's warmth keeping the young Rocket's feet from freezing. Jessie lay close beside him, some of her spiraled coif of red hair brushing his cheek. 

Team Rocket was evil, or so James had been led to believe, but the young man doubted that he could ever face "real" evil. He knew that he and Jessie were really just scared, lost, lonely kids, "playing criminal", because they had nothing else to do. Meowth, too, he was only in this because he wanted approval from his Master and true friendship, something that he had not found on the streets of Hollywood in his kitten days or anywhere else. 

James had a great sense of fear now, like their camp had been visited by something representing "real" evil. Jessie had been acting strange that evening, ever since she had seen that weird "evil looking" pokemon that resembled a Pidgey. James just had a bad feeling about their whole conversation about it and he was not quite sure why.

He had not felt a sense of impending doom so strongly since they had been aboard the sunken St. Anne cruise ship at the bottom of the sea with the Twerps, Ash, Misty, and Brock. He, Jessie, and Meowth had all nearly died. James still resented that the Twerps did not think to let them borrow one of their water-pokemon during that daring escape, forcing the trio to rely on that Magikarp that he had bought, which had proved utterly useless.

He looked at Jessie, her beautiful shut eyes fluttered, indicating that she was having a dream. He smelled the sweet, somewhat spicy aroma of her hair, which was now in his face as she turned her head. This was one of the rare times that James really felt like he might be falling in love with Jessie. They had been best friends since they were kids, but never anything more. Right now, she looked like an angel. Of course, when she awakened in the morning, the illusion would be over and she would be her mean and hot-tempered self. Somehow, James longed for her to be awake with him now, to chase away his strange and utterly lonely fear. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours after dawn, Ash, Misty, Tracey, and Pikachu were walking on a forest trail, headed to a mysterious Gym that Ash said was somewhere north according to their map. Misty sighed, realizing that Ash had probably gotten their little group lost *again*. She wondered why she didn't just stay in Cerulean City with her sisters or chosen to go it alone on her own pokemon journey. Still, the experiences she had up to this point, she wouldn't trade for the world. Ash was a good friend, and she had found a friend in Brock, and now Tracey, and she had captured a few new pokemon, even if one of them had to be that dopey Psyduck.

Suddenly, Pikachu's ears pricked, then the three humans heard an ominous creaking sound. All three were quickly hurtled by the force of gravity into a large hole that previously had been covered with tree branches and dirt. 

"Who would put a hole in a mountain trail like this?" Tracey asked rather stupidly.

"Who else?" Ash growled. 

"Prepare for Trouble!" a feminine voice triumphantly shouted.

"Make it Double!" came the familiar masculine refrain.

"Will you knock it off?!" Ash shouted as he clambered out of the hole. "We've heard that same baloney from you about fifty-million times!"

"No one interrupts the Team Rocket Motto, boy!" Jessie screeched. 

"To Infect the World with Devastation!" a voice came from the forest. Jessie, James and Meowth turned their heads toward the sound as did Ash, Misty, Tracey, and Pikachu as they climbed out of the hole-trap.

"To Blight all Peoples Within Our Nation!" came a very scratchy male voice.

Two figures leapt out of the forest foliage, one a tall blonde woman, the other a tall teal-haired man. Both were wearing black Team Rocket uniforms.

"Cassidy" Jessie spat.

"And Botch!" cried James.

"That's Butch you idiot!" the teal-haired man rasped. "Lookit you two, still trying to capture this small boy's Pikachu!"

"Such failures!" exclaimed Cassidy.

"How did they get out of jail?" Misty asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Butch wheezed through a sly grin.

"Dis is our assignment!" protested Meowth.

"Well," said Cassidy, "we're making it ours. We'll show you wimps the right way to do things in Team Rocket. Better step out of the way, or you'll regret it!"

Cassidy and Butch pulled two small handguns out of their hidden pockets.

"Those are-those are-" James stuttered.

"What does it look like they are?" Cassidy replied. She turned to Ash, "Now, you! Hand over that Pikachu and any other pokemon you got or you and your friends get it!"

Pikachu charged up for a Thundershock. 

"No, Pikachu! Don't!" Ash cried, but it was too late, enraged at being electrocuted, Cassidy and Butch opened fire, not caring which direction they were shooting.

"Jessie!" James cried as he saw his flame-haired partner clutch her chest and fall to the ground. He swiftly dragged her to a patch of bushes and laid her down there, examining the torn spot where red was staining the white jacket of her Team Rocket uniform, silently praying that he could find a way to stop the relentless flow of blood.

"Ash!" Tracey cried, jumping between the young trainer and Butch, only to utter a pained scream and fall to the ground. Suddenly, sirens sounded.

Butch and Cassidy forgot their rage and their Pikachu prize and ran swiftly into the woods as a police jeep with a red-and blue flashing light mounted on its hood and a blaring siren drove up with Officer Jenny and two male police officers seated within. 

"We just heard gunshots! What just went on here?" Jenny asked.

"Get an ambulance!" Misty screamed. She halfway held Tracey up in her arms, he clutched his stomach and grimaced in pain. He groaned a little, but otherwise made no sound and he trembled slightly. 

"Kenji, just hang on, we'll get an ambulance here, you'll be alright, just hang on…" Misty whispered.

Tracey's sketchpad fell out of his backpack, the drawing that he did last night facing up, the image of the Murkrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours passed, and the lone Murkrow, Yamikarasu, sat high in the branches of a pine. He had watched over the scene of the shooting, and now the victims and their friends had long left. The vile black bird laughed a dark cackling crow's laugh as he soared down to the lonely patch of trail and lightly pecked with his beak and scratched with his claws at still fairly fresh patches of blood soaked sand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later…

James paced around his apartment at the Main Team Rocket base in Viridian City. Meowth lay curled in a kitty bed in the otherwise empty little one-bedroom job. James feared that he might wear a hole in the living room carpet, though it was not much of a living room and a really ugly carpet. 

He did not know if he could bear this just yet. He was to be assigned a new partner today, after the "unfortunate tragedy" that befell Jessie. Butch and Cassidy were on trial for murder, and The Boss would not bail them out this time. He would not have cared if they had only killed the Twerp, but they had killed one of their own, and members were out of Team Rocket forever if they murdered one of their own. There were very few people in the organization that held the authority to do that, and it had to be under The Boss' order and for a very good reason. No Rocket had died by his order in fifteen years. 

James was to meet his new partner in an hour. The scenes of Jessie's death played themselves over and over again in his mind, every scene captured in a horrible still-frame, the un-pieced-together film shots of a movie. 

Cassidy had fired the shot. He had dragged Jessie out of the battle zone and examined her wound. He glanced over for a brief moment at the twerps and saw the bratty girl cradling the green-haired Watcher boy in her arms and whispering to him. He heard the sirens and glimpsed Butch and Cassidy high-tailing it away. Jessie reached out her hand to him and tried to say something. He told her that she was going to be okay and that an someone would soon arrive to help them. 

"James-I-I," she muttered, and then fell silent. 

"No, Jessie, don't leave me, hang on, please don't die. I need you!" James cried, but he knew that it was futile. He brushed his hand over her eyelids and curled up beside her still form and cried. The paramedics soon came and quickly came to the conclusion that their services were not needed. They tapped James on the shoulder and tried to get him to get up, but to no avail. When they took Jessie away, only then did he rise to follow them to the local hospital and it's morgue. Some of the hospital staff helped him and Meowth get cleaned up and the police started interviewing them. James and Meowth were cleared of all criminal charges connected to their repeated attempted thefts of Ash Ketchum's Pikachu because of the ordeal they had been through.

James had heard that the Twerp boy died at the hospital. Jessie's funeral was a lavish affair, with all of Team Rocket who were not in prison or on trial in attendance. Her casket was draped with an enormous black flag emblazoned with a great red "R". Giovanni gushed on about how they had lost such an important member of the Team, but James knew that it was all a bunch of emotional fakery. He and Jessie and been losers in his eyes. In fact, he thought that The Boss had been quite excited in recent days at the prospect of assigning him and Meowth a new partner, someone who would "lick them into shape".

There were a lot of roses at Jessie's funeral. James no longer carried a rose with him anymore. It had been Jessie's favorite flower, as well as his, but it was his favorite no longer. A long-stem red rose reminded him too much of her and the acknowledgement that she was no longer around was too painful for him to bear. He and Meowth were seeing one of Team Rocket's counselors for his grief, and was to continue seeing her after receiving his new partner. She was a good ear, but James knew that even with her help, that he would probably never get over the things that he had seen. 

"James;" a voice beckoned from somewhere in the apartment.

"Meowth, is that you?" James asked. He glanced over at Meowth's kitty bed to see him still curled up, sound asleep.

"James;" the voice called to him again. James, bewildered, turned his head to the direction from whence the voice was calling. Steadily, a bleary shape began to form before his eyes, it took on a white square with blurred edges and there was the top half of a human figure within this strange square shape. It was like a big-screen television had materialized in the air in the middle of his apartment. As the square became more defined, so did the shapes within it, for James saw two shapes now, one close by the "screen" with only the head and torso showing, and the other a full-figure standing far away in an endless sea of white.

"Jessie?" James asked, seeing the face of his deceased partner staring back at him. 

"James, it's me. Listen, you have to help me, you're my only hope."

James fainted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Misty sat on the bed in the Sketchit family's guest bedroom. She and Ash had been staying with Tracey's family for the last several days after coming to Tangelo Island for his funeral and had not resumed their Pokemon Journey as of yet.

Marie and Drew, Kenji's mother and father, had been most gracious to their son's best friends despite their own devastation over his tragic demise. Ash and Misty were going to book a hotel room for a few days at one of the tourist traps, but Drew Sketchit insisted that they stay in the spare bedroom of their house, for "It is best for people to pull together in times like these". 

Misty and Ash had learned a heck of a lot about their mutual friend that they had never known before. They met his Aunt Krissy, who had recently become a professor of Ecology at Tangelo University. They learned that she had been the one who had sparked his interest in pokemon watching when he was a kid. They had also learned that the Scyther he had caught on Mikan Island had not been the only Scyther he had ever raised. Krissy had given Kenji a Scyther egg she had found in the woods when he was a little boy. He had raised it and ended up releasing it into the wild later. 

Misty now had ownership of Kenji's Marill, and Ash his Venonat. Scyther was given to Krissy. The Sketchit family also insisted that Misty take some of their son's drawings. She sat on one of the two beds in the guest bedroom thumbing through his last sketchbook. She had taken the drawing of the Murkrow and burned it. That was the one drawing that she could not stand to look at. 

Tears dropped from her eyes onto one page, it was a portrait of her and Ash. "My Friends" was scrawled in cursive letters underneath the chest-up images. 

"Misty," a voice from nowhere called, "Misty, can you hear me?"

"Wha-? Who's there?" the girl asked, turning her head in all directions.

"It's me;" the voice answered, "It's me, Tracey."

Misty saw a strange rectangle of white light materialize in the center of the room, like a giant, fuzzy TV set. Then it became clearer and she saw the face of her dead friend staring back at her from within the rectangle.

Awestruck, Misty slowly reached out her hand, which passed right through Kenji's image. "Kenji…Oh, Kenji…Is it you? Are you a-a ghost?"

"No." Kenji answered. "I'm not a ghost, in fact, you could say that I'm not really even dead."

"Not dead?" but how?

"It is difficult to explain, but I will try. When I died, the lady, Jessie from Team Rocket and I died, it was not our time. Do you believe in God, Misty?"

"Yes…sort of, I guess."

"I never told you and Ash this about myself, and I regret it." Kenji sighed. "I'm a Christian. I believe in the whole God and the Devil, Heaven and Hell and Jesus and that whole shebang."

"Your parents…told us…about what they believe and all."

"Well, this does not happen often, or at all, really, but Jessie and I truly died before our time. It was the doing of Yamikarasu, that Murkrow, the one that I saw that night was a special Murkrow, a Messenger of Death, like you said that the legends told. He is the Head Murkrow, the leader of them all. At some point in the future of our world, Jessie and I were going to make some kind of a difference, though we don't know what is. Yamikarasu wanted to upset the timeline and create Chaos."

Kenji paused letting Misty take all this in, then continued. "Jessie and I have somehow been trapped in a vertex of time. We were transported here just before we "died" in our own world. We are at a point that is out of time, we never died and what you are living now is a Chaos Point, a timeline that is not supposed to exist. So, we are kind of alive and dead at the same time. If I had really died, I would be in Heaven now, because I believe in Jesus. Jessie, I don't know exactly what she believes, but I think that she would be in Hell right now."

"Wouldn't she?" Misty asked. "She's a thief!"

"The Heaven and Hell thing doesn't work that way, Misty. It's a misconception that a lot of people have. I had it once. Then I discovered that getting to Heaven is not about what you do, it's about whom you know. I learned that Jesus died for everybody's sins and accepted him as my Savior."

"Oh," Misty said, trying to take all this in.

"To the matter at hand," Kenji stated. "Jessie and I are trapped in this time vertex and you are in a Chaos Point. Time does not pass for us, as you can see, we are in a blank, white realm with no dimension of time, while time goes on for you. This is part of a war between Good and Evil, Yamikarasu must not succeed. In order for the world to be right, we must not have died."

"But how?" Misty asked.

"I'm getting to that." Kenji explained. "Look at my right hand."

"It's…semi-transparent?" Misty started, staring at the indicated appendage on the other side of the "screen".

"Jessie and I are fading;" the young artist elaborated. "If you do not correct the timeline after a certain number of days in your Chaos Point, I have learned that Jessie and I will both fade out of this realm and we will die."

A tear trickled down Misty's cheek.

The young man continued. "Do you remember that old legend Ash was telling us about from his 'Legends' book about a time-traveling pokemon?"

"Yes;" she answered. "Yes I do."

"Selebi;" Kenji enlightened. "Selebi does exist. You and Ash must seek her out. Jessie's old partners, too, in order to establish the correct timeline and thwart Yamikarasu's plans. The encounter with Butch and Cassidy of Team Rocket on that forest trail was a Point of Might Have Been, and it must be changed, changed so that Jessie and I are not shot, so no one dies. Otherwise, a dark future will result and Yamikarasu will appear to many more people. You have to help us."

The End, for the moment.

Yes, I am planning more to this story, much more, but this is only Part 1. I am letting my ideas percolate for a while, and you will get Part 2 when I'm good and ready to write it and no sooner! I love torturing my readers with cliffhangers!


	2. The Point of Chaos

Shadowcat's Notes: Ha! The awaited sequel to "The Thief, The Artist, and The Crow"! I plan this to be a three-part Series. 'Tis quite violent, so if you can't take PG-13, don't read. The first scene in this may even be leaning more on the "R" side. Definitely for teenage and adult "Pokemon" fans, not for those under 13. I'm telling you, for "Pokemon" fiction, it's DARK. Also, this story, like the last one, is unabashedly spiritual. If you hate Christian ideas, don't flame me, I warned you!

Disclaimers: I don't own the concept of "Pokemon" and neither do I own any of the characters from the anime or Selebi (Serebii) or Murkrow (Yamikarasu). I do, however, own the fire-lion Persian-evolution pokemon, Aslanti, whom I made up for my James-centered fanfiction, "Scarlet Letters", and Tracey's Aunt Krissy, whom I made up for a *cruddy* little fic "The Art of the Wild". I also own Marie and Drew Sketchit. And…I own the fictional Pokeworld region of Sonyoura. "Kishi" the moonstone-cat, is the property of Sforzie, used with permission.

"The Thief, The Artist, and The Crow" 

By Stacey N. "Shadowcat"

Part Two: The Point of Chaos

A pair of small dark wings cut the fiery air over the plain. The last Taruos staggered, raising very small clouds of dust with the plodding of its four hooves. He bellowed and fell to his side. Yamikarasu soared down and looked the great bull in the nose. The Murkrow nodded his black-feathered head and flapped into the sky once more.

The heavens were filled with black wings as a host of dark carrion birds descended upon the shaggy brown carcass, squawking and tearing their shares of flesh. 

A gaunt, golden-haired cat with a mane of fire and a tail alight with a dull flame stood on the horizon against the setting sun and roared softly. The lion-pokemon padded upon weary paws into the valley, followed by an even thinner cat that lacked a mane. Tiny flames flickered from the tips of her ears. She squeaked a kittenish growl as she glanced at her mate.

He neared the writhing black mass that had ensconced itself on the Taruos, meat that his pride sorely needed. The crows glared at him with glowing ruby eyes. The fire-lion huffed a pathetic growl-sigh and walked with his head and tail drooping out of the valley, followed by his female, who looked back with a hungry stare at their lost prize. Two great and mighty Alsantis, too weak to be able to even chase off a flock of lowly Murkrows.

Down in a desolate ravine lay a waterhole. Two groups of people were there, separated by the waters. A mousy-haired woman on the west shore shouted to the scruffy, middle aged-looking man on the east shore. The man rubbed his broad, blond stubbed chin. 

"This is the last clean waterhole for miles! Do you think that I'm going to give it up to you invaders!" The woman yelled.

"Your people better give it up to us, Missy, or there's gonna be Hell ta' pay!"

"You're not sane! Do you think we are going to let you contaminate our last source with the Blight?"

"How do we know that you're not carriers already, too! My group needs water, and we didn't trek all the way here to live off of the dust!"

The people behind the woman mumbled. She trudged out into the water until she was deep up to her thighs. A small black shape darted in front of her. For a brief instant, she saw it's flashing red eyes. 

"You ain't a' takin' our last water!" she screamed, but was cut short as a sharp cracking sound ripped through the still air and her body shook from the force of a barrage of bullets. The unshaven man tossed his gun into the water as her form hit the surface, staining the waves crimson. He yelled a horrible shout of triumph and battle-call as the men and women on the east shore all pulled weapons out of pockets, off their belts, and from under jackets. The people on the west shore did the same, and everyone stormed out into the waterhole, muddying the very prize for which they were fighting.

When it was over, Yamikarasu cackled a deep and hellish crow laugh. Not a sign of life remained at the waterhole, which lapped upon its shores, ruby. A horde of carrion birds filled the skies again and descended.

The sprite-pokemon, Selebi stood upon a hill, grass and bushes suddenly springing up around her, only to wither in the scorching wind. She looked down into the barren valley. This was not right. This was not the future, the future that she expected to step into on her daily stroll through the ages.

~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ash sat, beads of sweat gathering on his forehead and trickling down his neck. He was on the witness stand at the last leg of the murder trial of Butch Anhieser and Cassidy Yamamoto. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as he answered the lawyer's questions. 

"Yes, Butch fired the shot that…h-hit…Mr. Kenji Sketchit. H-he…Kenji, I mean…jumped in front of me…Mr. Anhieser was aiming at me."

"You are sure that it was the suspect in question, the honorable Mr. Butch Anhieser here?" The lawyer asked.

"Yes, it was Bu-I mean, Mr. Anhieser."

"Thank you, Mr. Ketchum. You may step down now."

"I would like to call my final witness, your honor," the lawyer stated to the Judge as Ash left the stand to take his seat next to Misty at the front of the courtroom. Misty looked around. Their old enemies, Butch and Cassidy were in the Defendants' Box on their right in blue prison uniforms and handcuffs. Drew Sketchit, Kenji's father, was in the special seating section next to the stenographer. 

Another surprising thing that Misty learned about her friend's family; Drew was the sketch-artist for the Greater Archipelago Court, the court on Tangelo that served most of the Orange Islands. He had been here, in the courtroom where a jury decided the guilt or innocence of the suspects implicated in the murder of his son, every day since the trial had begun the week after his funeral. The Court offered him leave, this being a trial so close to his heart, but he insisted upon working. He was here even on the days when Ash and Misty were not. They both had been called to the witness stand today, and for the last several days, during this-the last proceedings of the trial.

Drew's sketches would be the only images from the courtroom that would be made available to the general public, via display on television. This was the first murder trial to have taken place in the normally peaceful Orange Islands for a very long time, and even the news stations from way out in remote Sonyoura were covering it. However, the Orange Archipelago authorities would allow no cameras in the courtroom, to avoid a media circus. 

Misty glanced at Ash. He looked strange in a royal blue suit and tie, much different from his usual garb, and very haggard. This trial had been very hard on him. This time on the witness stand had been fairly uneventful, but he had been called up for prior confessions, and the lawyer for Butch and Cassidy had harangued him terribly. Ash had been asked if Butch had really been the one on the scene that day, and questioned so much that he almost began to believe that it _was_ someone else. Also, the lawyer had tried to implicate _him_ in the shooting that had killed Kenji Sketchit and Jessica Lillis, claiming by his testimony of Pikachu's electrocution of the suspects-causing their deadly rage, that he was at fault for not training his pokemon properly. 

Pikachu was left in the care of Marie back at the Sketchit home. Ash hung his head and sighed.

"Ash, are you okay? You look like you're about to faint!" Misty whispered.

"It's okay…I'll be fine." Ash breathed. 

"I call my final witness;" the lawyer shouted. Ash and Misty both gasped as a familiar figure took the stand. "I call Mr. James K. Rochester."

Misty and Ash stared with blank expressions as they watched the lawyer question and cross-examine James. They had not seen him since the terrible day of the murders. They had supposed he had gone back to Team Rocket. The Court had been trying to contact him for his testimony, but had been unable to. They had even put out a warrant for his arrest, pegging him as a possible accomplice suspect because of his disappearance so shortly after the deaths, even though he had answered questions at that nearest hospital the day of the murders.

James exited the stand and the jury was called to go into the Jury Room to decide a verdict. They came out forty-eight minutes later. Ash and Misty held each other and quietly sobbed with relief when the verdict was read: "We the jury find Mr. Butch Anhieser and Ms. Cassidy Yamamoto guilty of the crime of murder in the deaths of Kenji Sketchit and Jessica Lillis."

Something gnawed at the mind of Misty as she exited the Court into the main outdoor courtyard with Ash. It was something that she had passed off as nothing more than a dream, a hallucination induced by a mind stressed from the murder of her friend and the trial. She clearly remembered seeing a strange vision of Kenji, speaking from another realm, telling her that he had "died before his time" and that they needed to seek out a time-traveling pokemon called Selebi in order to go back in time and prevent what happened. 

Drew came up to her and gripped her in a tight embrace. Tears streamed down his reddened cheeks. "Justice!" he cried; "Justice has won this day!"

Misty nearly had a heart attack as she walked on, only to lock eyes with James. Meowth stood beside him. 

"Misty, Misty Williams;" he said graciously as he stuck out his right hand, apparently offering it out for a handshake. 

"J-James?!" she asked.

"Misty, am I ever relieved to find you and Ash!"  


"Wha-?" Misty's jaw nearly hit her feet. 

"We been' lookin' fer ya." Meowth added. "We's need yas!"

"Hey! What's going on here?!" Ash asked, stepping up beside Misty, indignant at seeing his old enemy, a member of the organization whose other members murdered one of his best friends. "Let's go, Misty."

As Misty and Ash turned to walk away, James pleaded. "Please! We need your help! I-I can't quite explain this, and I'm not sure that you'll believe me, but, but…I saw Jessie…in a weird vision. That is why I came here, to find you."

Misty paused, mid-step.

James continued. "She…was in some sort of void realm. She…and that Watcher kid. She said that they were not supposed to die and that we had to get together with you so we could find a 'Selebi' and prevent them from getting killed."

Misty wearily turned around. She felt lightheaded. Her heart beat in a rapid rhythm, as if trying to break free from her chest. 

"Misty! What are you doing?" Ash asked as she stepped back toward the blue-haired man and the cat. 

"Y-you…had a vision of Jessie?" She choked through tears… "Tell me…tell me everything."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The void of the vertex of time was a world of white, like fresh snow, but neither warm nor cold, and was permeated with soft light. Jessie sat cross-legged on what seemed to be a "floor" or "the ground" of this realm, running her fingers down the strange, long white linen robe that she wore.

__

Was she wearing it? Was she not wearing it? What is the definition of clothing if you didn't have a body anymore?

The dark-haired Twerp kid paced, his robe flowing dramatically behind him, as if being carried by a breeze. He suddenly doubled over in pain. 

"What?" Jessie asked. Then she was hit with a powerful feeling.

"We're fading;" the boy, "Kenji" replied. I talked to Misty and you to James…we can only hope that they find Selebi. It's only a matter of time…"

"Even though there is no time here."

"It passes for them. And they must not let too much of it pass…ugh…Yamikarasu is an EVIL, EVIL bird!"

"Well, no duh!!!" Jessie replied curtly. "And Selebi is supposed to prevent all this…how come you knew all this junk when we came here and I didn't?"

"Providence…God…"

"God? And why would this God of yours let us get into this mess in the first place if he's supposed to know everything?"

"Don't look at me! I don't have all the answers!" 

Kenji and Jessie paused. After a long glance, Jessie changed the subject. "I miss James…and Meowth. I…I wish that they didn't have to see me die like that. Meowth's been with us for a couple of years…James I knew since I was a child…when I met him at Pokemon Technical Institute after my Daddy sent me there…I-we both dropped out. We've been best friends for so long…inseparable, do you know what I mean?"

"Ash, Misty, and I used to sit and talk around the campfire about you two. Ash and Misty knew you from before they met me…they thought that maybe you guys were a couple…that you…might be…" Kenji blushed, "in love."

"And our Motto denounced the 'evils of truth and love'. No, it never went so far…we were just best friends…but…I think it may have become more, if my life was not cut so short…"

"But it's not. When Ash, Misty and James find Selebi, we will have another chance, we were not supposed to die, that is why we are here."

"Maybe…or maybe we are going to, because we're fading. Do you have any dreams left unfulfilled, Kenji? Any dreams that were crushed in your life?"

"I always dreamed…of living a life close to nature, 'tis what I was living. And of learning about Pokemon, to become a researcher. Being a Watcher was great, but I always wanted to do more…like the great Professor Oak of Pallet Town."

"If only," Jessie sighed, "if only I could have passed those exams at Pokemon Tech, if only Daddy had more money…I-I did not ask for a criminal life, at least not at first. I-wanted to become a pokemon nurse, like the Joys. But Daddy scraped together what was left of my mother's Team Rocket insurance-my mother was a Team Rocket agent, she disappeared on a mission when I was a little girl-just to send me to Pokemon Tech. I hoped to earn scholarships to attend a very-high class veterinary academy, I even studied at a lesser nursing school for a while…but…it never worked out."

Jessie continued her tale. "The world is made for the rich, Kenji. If you don't have money, you might as well forget about whatever dreams you have. I met James and he was failing the same classes that I was at the Pokemon Tech." Jessie laughed a subdued and sorrowful laugh. "Even then, we were a pair of failures. We both flunked the night of the big exam. Convinced that we were irredeemably stupid, we had no where else to go, so we joined a weird little, trouble-making bicycle gang in Sunnytown for a while, then, I decided to follow after my mother, and joined Team Rocket. James did too, as he got into a habit of going everywhere that I go. And, of course, even in Team Rocket we were colossal losers. We couldn't even get that one wretched Pikachu. So, that's the story of my life, failure, failure, always failure."

"That's sad…" Kenji whispered. "I never knew that. I shouldn't have judged you so harshly back in life. I hope that I will not if we get our second chance."

"We won't remember this?"

"Probably not…if we are prevented from dying in the first place. I think that we should attempt another contact."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selebi dwelled in the thick forest of a vast mountain range. She wandered all over the range, hers was a vast territory, and remote, no humans ventured here. She was glad of it, for on the rare occasion when she saw them from a distance, humans greatly frightened her. 

She looked up into the full moon. A shape darted across it in silhouette. Selebi smiled a wide sprite's smile. Kishi was out tonight. Kishi was the protector of Selebi's mountains, a pokemon appointed by the Creator to guard this range and all the pokemon therein from the ravages of men. Kishi was a feline, a feline that could fly, but without wings. It was told among the wild pokemon that Kishi had once been a normal Persian, but had evolved when she made contact with a fragment of the equally legendary Moonstone. It was also said that she was always the way she was, since the beginning of time. It was not known for certain where Kishi came from.

The cat had shining white and pale purple fur, somewhat long and elegant. She also had a small horn protruding from the center of her forehead, like that of a Rapidash. She was the guardian of all the wild pokemon in these great Azure Mountains, and good friends with Selebi. 

Selebi lived in this time, mainly. She wandered through time, through the past and the future, but always returned to this "present place". Time was always moving forward in its continual drone here, as it did for most pokemon and humans. Time always ran at a continual pace here, unlike the foreign ages that the sprite visited. Selebi would wander to another time for a while, and time would pass for a interval in this, her chosen "present realm", meaning that if she left for a day to visit another age, a day would have passed upon her return, even though she had passed through centuries. Time in the present realm was always moving toward the future and not even the time-traveling Selebi could regain it.

Kishi soared above Selebi's head and lighted upon a great rock in front of her. "Have you found out anything more in your quest to figure out the future?" The cat asked.

"No, I was going to try again, tonight." It is strange. I went to that same place to that same year, month, and day a month ago and everything was green. This time, when I went back three days ago, all was a desert…and death. Humans were at war…because of some sort of 'Blight' in the water, and most of the pokemon were dying. The Murkrows were feasting, but the rest were perishing…"

"Yamikarasu!" Kishi hissed, her eyes flashing lavender in the moonlight.

"Yes, he was there. I know that he did something…the Bird of Death did something, to create the fate that he desired for the world. I do not know what…what is the key…"

"Servant of Darkness, how I've longed to pluck Yamikarasu of his feathers and tear him into pieces to feed to the young Meowths of the Aslanti pride…"

"But he is powerful." Selebi whispered. "I do not think that it is appointed for you to defeat him or to destroy him. I am going less far into the future, to many places to try to find the key. I think that it lies near…"

"Near?" the mooncat asked.

"The desert…with the valleys and the scorching winds…was here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Andrew?" the green-haired, lavender-eyed woman asked as her husband steeped through the door. Marie Sketchit was arranging a vase of sunflowers with a certain small electric-rodent helping her out. 

"Marie, Maria…were you watching the news today?"

"Yes…still won't bring him back." Marie collapsed into a fit of sobbing, Drew placed his hand upon her shoulder but she swatted it away. "Leave me!" 

"Pika?" Pikachu asked.

Just then, Ash and Misty, followed by James and Meowth, stepped through the kitchen door. 

"Who are these people?" Mr. Sketchit asked. Then he glared. He recognized James Rochester from pictures on the newscasts and in the papers, when the Court was searching for him. He stared, stunned, then began a tirade of yelling, with Misty trying to explain the reason for their presence. 

James began crying. "I-I lost Jessie, too, you know…" Misty stood between them, trying to keep the peace, Drew ranted about how he wanted the young Rocket and the Meowth out of his house. Marie simply wailed. 

"What is going on down here?" asked Krissy as she stepped down from the upstairs bedroom. Her hair was dripping, for she had just taken a shower, and she was dressed in khaki pants and a khaki shirt. 

Suddenly, everybody stopped screaming at each other. A strange, wispy pattern of white light materialized in the room. Everyone stared, bewildered, with James and Misty looking a little less shocked than the rest. The large TV screen shape began to form and gather intensity. Soon everyone was staring at the images of Kenji and Jessie within the "screen". 

"Trace?" Ash queried, reaching out his hand, only to pass through the white-robed figure of his friend. 

"Krissy!" Kenji exclaimed, seeing his beloved Aunt staring back at him. 

"Kenji? Is it really you?" She asked, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

"Jessie?" Meowth asked.

"Jessie, my dear Jessie." James whispered.

Kenji and Jessie explained to everyone and to James and Misty again, the dynamic of the vertex of time and their need to find Selebi. 

"You needed to be brought together first." Jessie said, pointing to James and Meowth, then to Ash and Misty.

"Where do we search for this 'Selebi'?" Ash asked. 

"The Azure Mountain range," Kenji said. "I think it said something in your 'Legends of Pika-Don' book about it, isn't there?"

Ash ran to the guest bedroom and back, carrying his book. He frantically turned the pages. "You're right…something about the Azure Mountains and a time-traveling sprite…and…a cat of the moon?"

"Hurry." Jessie pleaded, looking into James' eyes as the contact was broken and the screen looking into the vertex-realm dissipated into nothingness.

"Well, Mist. I guess we're going to the Azure Mountains…let's get packed!"

"Hold-up!" Said Krissy. "If what I've heard of the Azure Mountains is true, you will need a guide. They're a dangerous range…people have gotten hopelessly lost there"

"Kristina! No!" Marie cried, "Don't go! It's too dangerous! I've already lost my son, I don't want to lose my sister, too!"

"I have to!" Krissy retorted. "Did you not see what just happened here? It's the only way to save Kenj…and I can't let these kids go alone!" 

"So," James sighed, "I guess we're off to find a Selebi…whatever that is…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selebi journeyed through the times of the future. She believed that she had now discovered the key to what Yamikarasu, the Bird of Death, had changed. She learned of what had brought the bleak future that she witnessed in her mountains, the scorched valley where Murkrows gathered and men fought for tiny pockets of water.

Sometime in the near future…a parasite was discovered. It was too late to stop it by that time, and nothing to kill it or to prevent its spread had been created. The "Blight". It was something from another land, though no one knew which one. It was a mutated version of a more 'benign' parasite, one that could easily be killed within the victims with the right medicines. This 'new, mutant worm' resisted all treatment, eventually bringing the lives of all its victims to termination. 

The tiny worms attacked the nervous systems of pokemon and of people, mainly the brain. It was spread by saliva and other body fluids, often through water. Almost any pokemon or person who drank from a contaminated river, spring or groundwater supply caught the Blight. The victims would first begin to loose their mental capacities, paranoia often being the first symptom in humans. Pokemon would behave much as animals infected with rabies, with an extreme change in personality. 

The Blight attacked indiscriminately. Few pokemon species could drink from a contaminated spring and not catch the worm. Rock-pokemon and most of the bird-pokemon remained unaffected, while mammal-pokemon and even most of the bug-pokemon perished. And humans were a dwindling species. 

Forests became deserts as people re-routed uncontaminated rivers and streams, lapping up every bit of clean water. Trees were also cut down to build crude forts and compounds when small wars began to break out among the remaining population for the ever-more-scarce water resources.

Selebi remembered hearing of a "Blight" before, in her time-travels before the future was terribly altered. She remembered something about a young researcher and a pokemon nurse who used to be a member of a criminal syndicate-but who had changed her ways after having a child, discovering a parasitic worm when working together on a study of Squirtles. They had examined the strange new parasitic species, and alerted authorities and the public to safety before it had a chance to spread. They also, after intensive study, discovered a way to cure the victims of this terrible parasite just after the paranoia symptoms began to show up, without further damage to their psyches, and to reverse those first effects.

Selebi tried hard to remember the names…Schetich…no…Sketich…Sketchit! That was it! And Ro-Ro-Roengarden? Rochelle? Rochester!

Selebi returned to her present-time. She leaned against a rock to rest after her harrowing and depressing journey. A black shape darted out of the forest and landed in the branch of a tree before her. Selebi felt a wave of cold fear come over her. Such it was with her and servants of Darkness.

"Yamikarasu!" She huffed, looking up at the red-eyed crow-pokemon. 

"You like what I have done?" He cackled condescendingly.

"You went and took two lives before their time!" the sprite-pokemon stated.

"Yes, yes, isn't it beautiful? One event, two single lives. Humans, pish-posh, they have no idea how important an individual life is. They go about their lives, thinking that they are just small creatures, their own lives not able to change anything…but they are wrong…so deliciously wrong…"

The Murkrow laughed. "How many people have I appeared to on their way to Heaven or Hell. The people bound for damnation to show them a bit of the fear they have to look forward to and the…ick…Heaven-bound to give them a shot of fear and doubt as to where they are going just before they depart. I love my job, Selebi. I love it! I've fought for my world for a long time…the world of the New Future!"

"You will not win! The One whom I serve is in control! I know that your future is not what he wants!" Selebi cried.

"But how do you know?" Yamikarasu sneered. "This is our world, Selebi. It belongs to the dark creatures. I have tried, tried, tried to cause death before the appointed time. Every life, if cut-off before its time…would be a gain to me. But, I could not before…"

"So, why these two lives?" the sprite asked.

"This time, my dear, the fetters that bound me were loosened. I took the opportunity when I could. My future will come to pass, Selebi! The future of Darkness draws ever near! Adieu, Selebi, adieu!"

At that, Yamikarasu flew off. 

The End…Until Part 3. 


	3. The Poin of Decision

Shadowcat's Notes: The final piece to this Series. Still PG-13 theme-wise and still spiritual with Christian themes so don't flame this on the grounds that you don't like the religious-workings, though this is more of a weird fantasy/sci-fi-ish thing than anything else. 

Disclaimer: I do not own "Pokemon" or any of the characters. What are mine, however, are Krissy-Kenji's fictional aunt, Aslanti-the fire-lion evolution of Persian and Stormeow the lightning-panther. The cats Kishi, Mizuti, and Nitty all belong to Sforzie and are used with her permission.

The Thief, The Artist, and The Crow

By Stacey N. "Shadowcat"

Part Three: The Point of Decision

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven.

a time to be born and a time to die…

Every individual life has importance. No matter how young, how old, how rich or how poor, every individual fills a role and purpose. Everyone is made by the Creator, and every life has worth. So many throw their lives away off a bridge or by a blade, unable to find the meaning in it all. So few people realize their worth, and no one, in fact, ever knows in this world everything they have done to make a difference. And no one wandering the Earth knows what he or she _will_ do and what the future will bring. 

Yamikarasu mused on these thoughts as he winged over the woodland. He knew little more of the future than any human did. And only one pokemon really knew what the future held. But he knew that he was free this day. He had waited for this day for a very long time. 

His kind, the Murkrows, liked to trick people and lead them to get hopelessly lost, sometimes resulting in their deaths in some dark forest on some mountain. They were seen as birds of bad luck, heralds of death. Yamikarasu himself was the Bird of Death, a servant of darkness who appeared to dying people and pokemon. Occasionally, he himself _brought _death. 

He had appeared to two human individuals last night. He had chosen them, the bonds that normally kept him from creating the real mischief that he wished to were loosened this time, he could bring death to them. And…it was before their time. 

a time to be born and a time to die…

Never before had he had this opportunity! He had tried to break his bonds, to bring death before its time to many individuals, but he never was able to. This time was different and he did not know why. The two people that he had chosen…he knew not exactly what they were set to do in the future, but he knew that they were important somehow, that a future of darkness-the kind of future that he wanted-would result from their lives being taken young.

As he soared over a meadow, Yamikarasu found the medium by which he would end the lives of the young thief and the young artist. 

"Ha, ha, ha! You missed it, Butch!" the young woman with the dark-blond hair laughed, falling off the log she was sitting on. The teal haired male grumbled and aimed his handgun again. 

"Yahahahaha!!!!!!" the woman laughed again as the beer can on the log a few yards away from them remained unharmed after Butch took another shot. He glared at his partner and leveled the gun at her.

"You think it's so funny, Cassidy? You try to hit it!"

"Butch! Butch! Stop pointing that thing at me! You're drunk!"

"So are you!" Butch turned his gun away from Cassidy and fired at the can again, which caught the bullet with a loud "zing!" and fell to the moss-covered ground. Cassidy, relieved that her partner was no longer aiming at her, took out her own gun and fired at another can that was sitting on the log. She laughed about the stupid cops and jail guards in the Orange Islands and how fun it was to escape the last jail that they were in, how they didn't even need The Boss to bail them out this time.

Butch wheezed a strange, contorted laughter, something like a cross between chuckling and choking. He laughed about how it was a great idea to rob a coastal liquor store in celebration-that they not only got some money, but they had scored themselves a couple of cases of some fine Orange Island brew. Cassidy giggled about how funny it was that they had been up drinking all night and now sitting around in a forest shooting at beer cans-and how bored she was.

"Look, Cass…it's a bird!" Butch slurred, pointing with his weapon at the log. Yamikarasu glared at the two Team Rocket members with shining red eyes. 

"I'll try to hit it!" Cassidy exclaimed. She fired a shot, but the Murkrow flew away just as the bullet cut through the air. 

"Come back here you stupid bird!" Cassidy yelled, seeing the black-feathered creature perched in the branches of a pine. She fired again, and missed. The crow flew to a tree further off. Butch aimed this time and fired, nearly hitting the dark-colored creature.

Yamikarasu led these two down a winding mountain trail until they came upon five human figures that looked familiar and forgot their little game of "shoot the wild pokemon". 

"Isn't that Jessie and James?" Cassidy asked Butch as they stood behind some foliage.

"And those bratty kids that they keep trying to steal that Pikachu from. They try so hard and The Boss didn't even ask for a friggin' Pikachu;" the teal-haired Rocket rasped in reply.

"Since we're here, let's show them how to steal pokemon the right way."

"I'm with you, Cass."

Selebi watched as the two black-clad, armed, and inebriated Team Rocket members stepped out from the forest and began their Motto. The scenes that subsequently unfolded were all too familiar to the little sprite. She charged up her powers to create a wall between the victims and the bullets when preventing the Pikachu's electricity from discharging did not work. She tried to mentally push Kenji and Jessie out of the way…then she rushed in herself for a physical thrust, invisible to all. 

Still the bullets found their marks and the blood and devastation ensued. Selebi stood silently with tears as she watched the flame-haired female reach out to her partner for the last time and as the ponytailed girl held the bleeding young pokemon sketcher close, crying into his shoulder until the ineffectual ambulance came.

This was the tenth time…the tenth travel to this time and place to try to stop what should never have happened. High in a tree, Yamikarasu laughed. A voice echoed in Selebi's mind, she knew where it came from and had heard what it said before, but she fought to deny it. She did not want to hear it. 

__

"There is strength in friendship. There is power in love."

She did not want to seek them out, to work with them, but she knew that she had to, though the thought of revealing herself to humans terrified her greatly. She wanted to work alone, to try to find the prevention alone, but, after these endless attempts, she could deny it no longer. The friends of the victims…had to find her…she had to make herself and her power revealed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ash, Misty, James, Meowth, Pikachu, and Krissy hiked through the dappled mid-afternoon light of the forest of the Azure Mountains on the remote Ember Island. It had taken them three days just to get to the island from Tangelo by boat and a difficult thing it was to find a ferryman willing to take them to such a far-off and uncivilized place.

The soil of the island supported wild forest fine, but was incompatible with crops and the ocean around it was stingy in giving up its fish, thus it was never settled and remained a truly wild place. There were also many legends about fierce pokemon on the island that kept many away.

"Look alive, peoples! We've got more trails to blaze!" the cheery voice of Krissy sounded above the labored breathing of the others as they climbed a steep incline. She hacked at vegetation with a large machete.

"Hold your Ponytas, Jungle Jane!" Meowth spoke up. "Wes cant keep up wit yous at dis pace foreva!" 

"He's right;" sighed Misty, "We need to stop for a rest."

"Rest? I want to get in another mile or two into this forest before nightfall! We have not much time to find Selebi!"

"But can't we take a break for just five minutes, now?" whined Ash.

James, who was walking next to him, whispered into his ear. "She's too chipper. I wanna vote her off the island!"

Ash snickered. 

"Okay, we can rest a bit…bunch of out-of-shape whiners…I'll have Scyther cut a trail." Krissy released her nephew's former pet from a pokeball and gave him orders to cut through the thicker bushes and limps to pave them a path to the east.

Misty sat on a rock and released both her Togepi and Marill from their respective balls. She had not had Togepi out much as of late. The last time she had it out for more than a half-hour at a time was the morning of Kenji and Jessie's murders. She had the baby pokemon out during breakfast, to feed and play with it, then, because she had been suffering from a slight headache, chose not to carry it outside of its pokeball that morning when the group began the day's travels as she usually did.

Recently, because of the tragedy and because of being involved in Butch and Cassidy's trail as a witness, she had been very stressed. Togepi, though a pokemon, was much like a human baby in many respects, it's constant needs, wants, and cries inducing stress at times. Unlike a human baby, the creature could be stored quite happily inside a pokeball and that is what Misty did most of the time because she was under too much stress to deal with it for an extended period of time. She brought out Togepi in order to feed it and bathe it, but not to play with it much anymore as she used to love doing.

Both Marill and Togepi were in great need of some exercise and Misty felt at the moment that she could deal with the occasional shrill "Brii!" and "Marill!" Pikachu joined them and Ash laughed as he watched them frolic, taking a well-earned rest on another boulder.

James and Meowth sat on the ground and Krissy was up and giving directions to Scyther. Ash was more in the shadows than the rest of them. 

"Togepi!" Meowth exclaimed. "Remember me? Come over here to papa!"

Togepi ignored Meowth and continued to bat at the tails of the mice. Marill began to show signs of being annoyed, but continued to let the egg-pokemon pull on her tail. 

"Ungrateful egg. I do all dat stuff ta care for it before it hatched and it don't even remember me." Meowth sighed sadly.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Ash screamed. He was suddenly gone from his seat on the boulder in a flash of orange and red. 

"Ash!" Misty screamed. Everyone leapt to their feet and sped into the forest after a strange glowing figure.

Ash's skin scraped over rocks and dirt and bush limps slapped him in the face as he was dragged through the woods by an enormous creature that had him by the legs of his pants. Painfully pulling his right arm to his side through the scraping of thorns and stones, he managed to seize one of the pokeballs on his belt and throw it.

"Bulba!" cried Bulbasaur as it stood before Ash's attacker, which halted in its tracks. "Aslan!" it huffed in reply.

"Bulbasaur! Vine Whip!" the young trainer called as he scrambled to his feet, the hold on him released.

"Ash! Are you okay?" James asked, panting and sweating.

"What is that?" Krissy wondered aloud. Bulbasaur had by this time had the wild pokemon at his mercy. The cat-like beast howled.

"Call back your pokemon, kid!" Meowth cried. "He's begging for mercy! He says he won't harm us!"

"Bulbasaur! Return!" Ash commanded and his plant-lizard was drawn inside the capture-device in a swift flash of red energy.

"Aslanti?" the wild pokemon queried, speaking to Meowth. It was like a Persian, but slightly larger and had a mane of fire crowning its head and a tail tipped with a flame like a Charmander's. Its body-hair was short and golden-colored...somewhat creamy, like the coat of a Meowth or a Persian, but with a golden tinge. The animal's hair was not sleek, but scruffy, and the mane crowning its head was burning low. The pokemon's ribs were showing through its slender sides.

"He says that he's an 'Aslanti'." Meowth explained. "He was expelled from his pride because he's old. He was looking for food. He promises he won't try to eat any of youse guys if ya give him somethin' ta eat."

Scyther, who was standing next to Krissy, stared at Aslanti. "Scy!"

Misty took some pokemon food from her backpack, after returning Togepi and Marill to pokeballs, noting the hungry look with which this fire-lion was eyeing them. She threw the large pellets toward the beast, which devoured them gratefully. Ash examined the bleeding scrapes on his arms.

"Well's give ya more if ya help us!" Meowth exclaimed. "We're looking fer this!" The poke-cat jumped onto Ash's back and pulled the boy's "Legends of Pika-Don" book from his backpack. He opened it to a page bearing an ink-drawn illustration of what was supposed to be the mythical time-traveling pokemon, Selebi."

Aslanti nodded his head and roared.

"He knows what dis is!" Meowth mewled triumphantly. "He says he knows where to find her!"

Ash rummaged through his backpack, looking for pokemon food and canned meat products. He wanted to make sure that this lion would be trustworthy! Aslanti ate gratefully while conversing with both Meowth and Scyther, who suddenly became very talkative. 

"Hmmm…very interesting…" Meowth muttered. "So you both are 'soul brothers' in a way, eh? Proud warriors exiled from you clans? Guess bein' in da wild is tough…"

Aslanti roared and brought everyone to attention.

"Exile says to follow him." Meowth stated. 

"Exile?" Ash asked.

"Dat's his name…or his title. He says that his former pride knows a cat of the moon called 'Kishi" and she knows Selebi."

"Exile" the Aslanti led the way and the humans followed obediently. Krissy retired Scyther to his pokeball when the vegetation began to thin. It was a long, hard hike up steep rises and down into valleys, the trail that the fire-lion wandered was twisting and wild. Everyone talked as they went and Meowth rode on the pyrlion's back, translating his growls to the four humans.

"Wow," sighed Ash, "I would never have believed that so many of these old legends were true. Selebi, the Mooncat, the Firecat-I've read and heard myths of a Firecat, too, and here we are following one!"

"Murkrow…" Misty said softly.

"I wonder if 'Exile' would like to be my pokemon…" the young would-be Master added. "He looks like he could be strong-with the right training."

"Behold, guys," Krissy laughed, "Triumph! Soon we'll see this Selebi and it'll save Kenji and Jessie!"

"'The order of time will be set right and what should never have happened will be prevented'" Misty quoted something that Kenji told them in the last vision that they had of him and Jessie.

"You know," James spoke up, "I wonder what all that spiritual stuff your Watcher friend was talking about was all about. I remember him saying something about Jessie's soul…that her death needed to be prevented not only to save her life, but so that she would have the chance to make a decision. Strange, strange."

"Something," Misty whispered, "not only about lives but about souls…he's confident of Heaven for himself if we fail and they fade…but said that Jessie was somehow in danger…I didn't understand it fully, either."

"I will not rest until my Jessie is safe." James sighed. "Body and soul…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jessie sat huddled and shivering in the void of the vertex of time. She hugged her legs tightly as light tears trickled down her cheeks. She was crying for all she had lost, for all she had never had in life, and for all the things she wished she had said to her only two friends in the world, James and Meowth, especially James.

The forms of her and Kenji in this realm were growing more transparent. They were fading. "We are going to die, you know…" she whispered. "They won't find your time-traveling pokemon in time. I don't want to die."

"I don't, either." Kenji sighed. "I believe that they will find Selebi. As long as we are still here, there is still hope."

"What was all that stuff about that you were saying earlier to James during the last contact? Something about our souls? That I needed to be saved from this…so I could make a decision?"

"The decision to give your life to God?" Kenji answered. "Yes. I am not sure that it would apply here…I think it is a decision that people can only make when they are alive…though this place is a little like the Purgatory of Catholic legend…"

"But that place is supposed to be like a way station between Heaven and Hell, isn't it? Like a place that is for torture but not as bad as Hell?" Jessie asked.

"And this place is certainly not like that, just a place of nothingness, though I really don't know much about Catholic legend. Other kinds of Christianity, but not Catholic stuff."

After a long pause, Jessie spoke up again. "God wouldn't want me, anyway. Look at me…I'm just a Team Rocket thief, and not a very good one. I am a failure…at being good, at whatever I try to do, at life. I'm not 'good', the only people who ever wanted me around were James and Meowth, and Meowth is a pokemon. I could never be good enough for anyone besides them to want me, let alone this God of yours."

"None of us are 'good' enough." Kenji stated. "God's love is not based upon how 'good' or 'bad' you are. His mercy reaches out to all. Take me for instance…"

Jessie laughed. "You? You're one of the 'good guys', what could you have done that is as bad as what I've done?"

Kenji sat down, facing Jessie. "I am…um…very… lascivious. Really, don't look at me that way, I am. About half the drawings in my sketchbooks aren't pokemon, they're girls. I have a wandering eye-and desires that go beyond just drawing beauty. There is always an inner battle going on within me…"

"Still," Jessie sighed, "I am not sure I'm quite ready to believe yet, to put my faith in and give my heart to something that I have never seen."

"I just hope…that you will have the chance-if nothing else-then the chance. I think our friends will succeed and we will get the chance to complete our lives. I just hope they succeed soon…" Kenji held his right arm out in front of him and saw the figure of Jessie through it, as if it were a clear piece of stained glass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Exile" took Ash, Misty, James, Krissy, Meowth, and Pikachu to the open mouth of an enormous cavern in front of which was flowing a beautiful geothermal hot spring. What their eyes beheld caused the breath to catch in their throats.

Everywhere, laying atop boulders and playing around the spring, were fire-lions, Aslantis. There were a few with proud flaming manes, most appearing to be young males, as their features still looked kittenish. There were numerous females without manes, but instead, with little tips of flame on their ears. Gamboling among them were a few Persians and several Meowths-and strange, Meowth-like kittens that none of them had ever seen. 

"Meowth, are those what your kind looks like as kittens?" James asked his friend as they gazed at the great feline city. 

"No, I ain't eva seen cats like dat before." Meowth replied. Exile roared and growled. 

"Fire-breath over here says dat dose tiny cats are 'Nitty'. Dat they're like a pre-evolution of Me-owth! Dey don't evolve into Meowt's though…dey evolve wit elemental stones!"

"Elemental stones?" Ash queried. 

Exile growled some more. Meowth translated. "He says dat wit a fire-stone dey turn into Aslantis…or dey turn into Aslantis just by being around volcanic activity, like da hot springs. Wit a water-stone; dey turn into something called a Mizuti, a water-tiger. Wit an electric stone, dey turn into a Stormeow-lightning panther! He says dat Mizutis and Stormeows are rare 'cause dere ain't many stones like dat around here, but Aslantis are common from da hot spring and all belong to dis pride."

A flash of flame caught everyone by surprise. Meowth, Pikachu, Misty, Krissy, Ash, and James were thrown back and Exile was suddenly engaged in fiery battle with another male Aslanti. 

Through the roars, there were other lion's voices and the four humans and their two outside-their-balls pokemon found themselves surrounded by many baleful feline faces. Lioness Aslantis and several Persians glared at them through red and golden eyes.

"Dey say that humans aren't allowed here…an' they're especially mad because dis is a night of some kinda special ceremony!"

Exile roared as he was scratched across the face and sent bleeding to the ground. His assailant huffed, then stared growling at the humans. Meowth began to speak to the Aslantis and Persians. Pikachu joined in, explaining their presence, that they were brought here by the exiled one to find Kishi, in hopes that she would take them to Selebi.

"Dey say that Kishi is coming for the Ceremony-but that humans have no place here…nor do dishonored old cats." Meowth translated, his glance turning toward Exile, who whispered a pathetic growl and rose to his feet, hanging his head in shame.

The humans stood and faced the lions, ready to walk away for fear of what they might do. James was shaking violently. A shining muscular form threw him to the ground.

"James!" Misty screamed.

James yelped and thrashed as pale lavender-furred paws pinned his shoulders to the forest dirt. The cat had one horn like that of a Rapidash and a shining mane of purple hair running down the length of her back. "Kish-hiee!" she hissed.

"Please don't eat me!" James cried. The Aslantis fell back, watching the smaller silvery feline in wonder and respect. 

"We are here to find Selebi!" Ash shouted. "Are you Kishi? Our friends need your help!"

Kishi continued to glare at James, putting a paw on his throat and snarling.

"She's gonna kill me!" he choked. "Jessie…" he whispered.

Kishi took her paw off James' neck and raised her head in a quizzical "Purrowl?"

Meowth explained. "Yes, we are friends of one called Jessie. And one called Kenji, too."

Kishi growled some more and got off of James. 

"Yes!" Meowth said. "She says that Selebi has been expecting us…that she needs to see us, but has been afraid to come to us. She says she will fly to Selebi and bring her here."

Kishi flew off into the sky that was darkening slowly as the sun set. Ash, Misty, Krissy, James, Meowth, and Pikachu watched in silent awe.

"What do you know…" Krissy whispered. "A flying cat."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kishi lighted upon a large flat rock outside of Selebi's lair. She meowed, beckoning the sprite. Selebi emerged, wondering what brought her friend here when she was supposed to be at the Aslanti pride Ceremony.

"Selebi, they are here…they are at the pride's spring;" the mooncat said.

"Who?" Selebi asked.

"Those you told me you must confront, the humans-the friends of your Jessie and Kenji you must save."

"I have…much fear. Not just of them, but of…you know."

"Yamikarasu!" Kishi spat. "Yes, he will try to stop you, but you must decide, to face the humans and to face him, or to leave the matter."

"But I must…I must face all danger. Time must be set right. The Bird of Death must be defeated in this endeavor. The future of this mountain range and much of the rest of our world is at stake, as well as two young lives." 

"Come," Kishi beckoned, I will carry you to the spring."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gathered Aslantis and Persians, as well as the rest of the feline pride, parted the way for Kishi and Selebi. The short, greenish colored sprite pokemon hopped off the great cat's back and grass sprang up at her feet where she stood. She stared directly into the eyes of the assembled humans and into the eyes of Meowth and Pikachu.

She spoke to them in the clearest of English, though it felt to Meowth, Pikachu, James, Misty, Ash, and Krissy more like a resounding echo in their heads. 

"So she is…like an angel…a servant of God…" Meowth whispered. "In pokemon form…and the Murkrow, Yamikarasu who is responsible for the deaths of Jessie and Tracey is like a demon…but in pokemon form…he is the head of all Murkrows who choose to serve darkness…and she wanders through time to see that everything is right. Kishi is her protector and the appointed protector of all the pokemon of the Azure Mountains."

Selebi waved her short arms and fluttered the delicate wings on her back. Wispy images came before all that were gathered, they were much like the visions that the group of humans had seen of Kenji and Jessie from the time vertex in which their souls were trapped.

"Kenji in a lab coat? Isn't that-?" Misty started.

"Professor Oak's place! Yeah!" Ash laughed.

"Jessie…and me?" James asked, scratching his head. "She looks…she looks like…"

"She's expecting!" Krissy said joyfully.

"Does that mean?" James questioned. 

"And look!" Misty cried, that is Kenji and Jessie in the same scene! She's in a nurse's uniform. Look James! That's you! Holding the hand of a…little girl?"

Several more scenes flashed across the sky. Scenes involving a Squirtle, a strange, wormlike creature, Kenji and Jessie pouring some sort of powered substance into a river, and giving injections to various pokemon." 

"It is time." Selebi said as the images vanished. "Come to me and join hands. I must take you all back to the moment…the moment that they died. I've tried to prevent it on my own, but 'twas folly. You, their friends, are needed."

Ash, Misty, Meowth, Pikachu, James, and Krissy stepped forward.

"Not her." Selebi said, pointing with an antenna at Krissy. She was not there, she cannot come."

"But-" Krissy protested.

"No." Selebi re-iterated. I have barely enough energy to handle this many entities-and you were not present, you cannot help. All that you could have done, you have."

Disappointed, Krissy sat down next to a mother Meowth and a litter of four tiny Nitty, which mewled and purred next to her as if to provide condolence.

Ash, Misty, James, Meowth, and Pikachu joined hands with each other and with Selebi. All were enveloped by a blue glow. 

"Caw!" sounded in a tree.

"Oh, no!" Shouted Selebi. Everyone saw him, Yamikarasu, coming to interrupt the time-transfer. "This is it!" the sprite cried.

The three humans and the three pokemon found themselves within a great tunnel of light. "This is the highway of ages," Selebi explained, "I usually can traverse it in an instant, but carrying this many other entities with me, it is taking longer!"

A gigantic black figure rose up ahead of them on the path, shimmering with the blue light of the tunnel.

"You shall not go!" it cawed angrily.

"Yamikarasu!" Selebi shouted back, "you shall not win! We shall pass!"

"Never!" screamed the crow. Misty was suddenly seized by horrible claws, which dug into the flesh of her shoulder; she was thrown back and appeared to be falling.

"Misty!" Ash shouted, grabbing her by the arm.

"Don't let go!" Selebi hollered. "The highway of ages is very unstable, she will cease to exist if she is lost within it!"

Suddenly the group was pelted with a flurry of razor sharp black feathers. 

"Aye!" James cried out in agony as the skin of his forehead was cut. Meowth and Pikachu huddled together, still holding hands, in fear.

In a fraction of a second, the flurry of feathers stopped. Something like a flash of lightning caught everybody's vision. Ash, Misty, Pikachu, Meowth, and James found themselves standing in bright morning sunlight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the void of the vertex of time, Kenji and Jessie found their forms whole again.

"They found her! I knew they would!" Kenji shouted with joy as the senses of both him and the red-coifed Rocket were overcome with white lightning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"To Infect the World with Devastation!" a female voice assaulted everyone's ears and Misty glanced to her left and Ash glanced to his right to find Kenji, very much alive, standing between them. His shirt as well as theirs was covered with little spots of mud from where they had just climbed out of a hole in the ground.

"Jessie!" James said with glee as his female partner glared angrily at Cassidy, attempting to steal her spotlight again.

"What?" she asked James. Meowth simply stared.

"What do we do?" Ash whispered to Misty, who shook her head sadly in reply.

The conversation and events played out just as Ash, Misty, James, Pikachu, and Meowth had remembered them, up until the point at which Cassidy and Butch pulled out their handguns. Without warning, James leapt upon Cassidy and seized her by her gun-hand.

"James! Have you just gone psycho?" Jessie cried.

"I'll show you to mess with my partner!" Butch cried, waving his gun and misfiring.

"Kenji!" Misty shouted, jumping on the young Watcher and pushing him to the dirt.

"Misty?" he asked, bewildered.

Pikachu leapt up towards Butch and deftly plucked the weapon from his hand, at the same moment delivering him a powerful burst of voltage for good measure. Cassidy still thrashed with James on the ground, Meowth joining in to help by clawing her face. With a sickening crack, James broke the woman's wrist and wrenched the gun away from her. The rank stench of alcohol on her breath stung his nostrils. 

Officer Jenny pulled up in the Police Jeep, claming to have heard gunshots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~

That evening, reports were filed and the pair of Rockets known as Butch and Cassidy were hauled off to the local jail, Cassidy taken to the local hospital first to take care of her broken wrist.

Jessie, James, and Meowth were let free, for even though they were identified with Team Rocket, there was no available evidence that they had committed any crime in the Orange Islands, and by law, none of the jails could hold them on suspicion of any charge without evidence. 

Ash, Misty, and Tracey relaxed by the campfire that night. Ash and Misty were unusually tense, Tracey observed, but they refused to tell him why. Pikachu was also fidgety and the young Watcher suggested that Ash give him a pokemon massage to try to calm him down. 

Tracey called out his pokemon at sunset so they could get a good stretch outside their pokeballs. When Marill saw her master, she squeaked a very unusual squeak of half fear and half surprise, and leapt shivering into his arms. Venonat huddled close to his side and Scyther was unusually affectionate, rubbing his head against his master's back and side and "Scy-ing" softly as if he were an enormous cat instead of the enormous combat-insect that he was.

Misty took a walk out into the forest late in the night, the cold dew of the grass tickling her legs. She made sure that Ash and Tracey were both asleep when she departed. At a rock, she met James, who was also out walking.

"Does she remember any of it?" Misty asked.

"No." James replied.

"Neither does he, though his pokemon seem to remember him being gone."

"The same with Jessie. Arbok was so happy to have her back that he nearly squeezed her to death! She had to wash her hair in a little stream because Lickitung got so much slobber in it!"

"Yuck!" Misty wretched. "Should we tell them?"

"No." James whispered. "I think it is best if they never know. It was terrible for us, why should they have to hear it? They'll think us crazy, anyway.

"And, their future should be left up for them to decide…They should be free to not know what it brings."

"Yes, Meowth and I have agreed to keep it secret from Jessie."

"And I will tell Ash. And I think the Pikachu has already decided as much. To us, you and Jessie are still Team Rocket."

"And you are still a bunch of twerps. As of tomorrow, our 'truce' is over. Perhaps one of these days, we can forget about Pikachu and about The Boss and Team Rocket, but today is not that day."

James and Misty nodded sorrowfully in mutual agreement and wandered off into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A month later, somewhere in the Azure mountains, Kishi met with the Aslanti pride at the hot spring. Exile, re-instated into the pride, looked on as she chose a Nitty, the smallest of his litter of four, and presented him with a tiny glowing stone that she held in the curl of her tail. It was a fragment of a Moonstone. The tiny kitten stepped forward and held his paw upon the stone. His body glowed a pale purple rivaling the yellow-white moonlight filtering through the trees of the evening forest. 

When the evolution was over, a new young Kishi stood before his sister. 

"Do well, young one, protect these mountains and do well". Kishi admonished the male Kishi before she disappeared into the sky. 

Selebi watched her friend's silhouette soar across the full face of the moon. The sprite knew that she had chosen her successor, whom the sprite would soon meet. She was filled with much sorrow, yet joy. "Farewell, my friend" she whispered. 

Kishi lighted down in a dark part of the forest, knowing that it was her time to leave the mountains to the new Kishi. She remembered all the events of that which had transpired the last month, yet hadn't transpired. She smiled; knowing that time had been set right with her help. Her time of service had been done, and well, and the cycles of life in the Azure mountains were about to ensue again, the same, yet different, just as they were every generation and every season. 

Kishi lay weak on the ground, breathing heavily when she saw him. Yamikarasu laughed darkly.

"You have failed, Kishi laughed. You have failed."

"But at least I have the pleasure of appearing to you;" the Murkrow squawked.

"Your time is coming, and you know it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a small island called Ochre, Ash, Misty, and Tracey stopped at a videophone booth. Misty carried Togepi in her arms and it trilled excitedly. Tracey decided that he wanted to call home and dialed up the Sketchit residence on Tangelo Island.

Misty and Ash smiled as Tracey introduced his parents and his Aunt Krissy. The would-be Pokemon Master and Water Trainer grinned as they recognized kind faces and warm voices. It immediately became clear through their conversation that Tracey's family, like they young artist himself, remembered nothing of the strange adventure that they had gone through in a time out of time. Drew grumbled about the boring-ness of his court job and how he thought that the Orange Islands didn't even need a court.

"The Island folk are impeccable citizens. There hasn't been a murder-trial or a major robbery-case in years."

After Tracey hung up the phone, he, Ash, Pikachu, and Misty with Togepi, walked down an open road and into the future.

THE END

If you are wondering about the pokemon Kishi, Mizuti, Stormeow, Nitty, and Aslanti in this story, they, unlike Murkrow(Yamikarasu) and Selebi(Serebii) are NOT featured in any official Pokemon games. The "Poke-Cats" are a group of fictional felines invented by me and Sforzie  and you can find out about them here: [http://members.dencity.com/caferocket/newpokemon.html][1]

If you in particular wish to learn more of Aslanti, also read my James fanfiction, "Scarlet Letters", it is the story in which the fire-lion makes his first appearance and the story I originally invented him for.

"The Thief, The Artist, and The Crow" Series was really fun to write. I hope that it was also enjoyable to read. I appreciate any feedback on my stories. If you must flame, please do not just flame, give constructive criticism. 

I would like to thank the fans and supporters of my stories, strange though my stories are. Without you, I would not be writing them. Thank you, dear readers, for getting through this rather lengthy tale, especially those of you who don't like the character Tracey as much as I do-for putting up with a fic of mine in which he played a major role.

God bless.

Shadowcat, May/June 2000

   [1]: http://members.dencity.com/caferocket/newpokemon.html



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